By the Pricking of my Thumbs
by Leda Swangoddess
Summary: Kids in Domino city are having horrifying dreams...but something suggests that they're not just dreams.
1. Dreams are older

This story is a little AU.  
  
None of the quotations that I will use in the beginnings of my chapters are mine. Neither is any of the Yu-Gi-Oh market machine. *snffle*  
  
I will try to update at least once a week. This story is going to be sort of sloowww for the first 5 or 6 chapters, and that is something for which I am very much ashamed. *snffle* If you have any ideas for plot twists, pleeeez e-mail them to me they will be very very very very much appreciated. The e-mail should be entitled ... umm... 'fanfic' I guess... what an unoriginal title *hits self's head* But I am an unoriginal person, so that should be expected. Please, please, please please if you have a chapter idea write it up and send it to me with your ff.net name or whatever, I will very likely post it. I suck at writing romance, so if you would like to help me with it, you should e-mail it to me. My e-mail is StArDuStScUlPtUrE@yahoo.com  
  
Please R&R, If I get 3 reviews I will post the next chapter in the same week, and maybe even the same day.  
  
BTW  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~ is a scene change  
  
------------------- the end or beginning of a chapter //____// is a yami talking to his hikari /____/ a hikari talking to his yami "____" is a person talking to a person '____' is a person thinking  
  
Now, at a glance, here are the pairings. They're sort of complicated: Seto/Anzu Yami Bakura/Anzu Bakura/Shizuka Yami Yugi/Shizuka Jounouchi/Mai  
  
Oh, and if you don't know the Japanese names: Seto = (duh,) Seto Anzu = Te'a Bakura = (duh again) Bakura Shizuka = Serenity Yami Yugi = Yugi's little friend who lives in the millennium puzzle and happens to like using dark magic on people Mai = Mai Jounouchi = Joey Honda = Tristan  
  
now, after an interminably long A/N, on to ....  
  
-------------- Chapter One: Dreams are older... "Dreams are older than brooding Tyre, the contemplative Sphinx, or garden girdled Babylon." -H.P. Lovecraft  
  
Bakura sloshed in through the door of his house. It had been raining, and water puddled around his feet as he slid off his bookbag and ran his hand through his soggy mass of white hair. He took in his appearance from the mirror in his hallway. Long, limp white hair (cast a silvery-blue by the combination of the hallway light and a walk home in the rain) framed a pale face with drips of water glistening on its forehead. The eyes of the face were very tired, it seemed, and the large dark circles in the skin under them offset their brown coloring. Bakura took in a weary breath, went into the kitchen, made a bowl of cereal, and took it upstairs to eat it. He finished his homework, of which there was very little as he had completed most of it in school, and went to bed. (He had changed out of his wet clothes before completing his homework.) As he drifted along the liquid boundaries of sleep, it seemed as if there was a thing, a will, pulling him. Drifting back into complete consciousness for a moment, his mind noticed that the will pulled him not into sleep, or from it, but along the barrier. It was as if the barriers of consciousness were a road, and this immensely strong will were pulling him along it to the end. In the same moment of consciousness, he felt a fog settling on his senses, not from the physical manipulation of another, but from the mental control of the Will. The Will was calling him and controlling him at the same time.  
  
As he slipped through the barriers of consciousness, it seemed as though he heard a chanting, not a joyful chanting, but one that sent shivers up his spine. The chanting sounded evil, like something older than anything he knew of, something vile that had existed before he or any other had documented or could remember, and which he could not fathom. It was then that his senses, (or whatever part of them clung to him in this dream- world) detected a smell that could only be described as evil. Every particle of his comatose body begged him to awaken, but the Will controlled his mind, and he couldn't.  
  
Eyes open. A screech is heard, followed by unearthly tortured shrieks. Am I shuddering or is it the ground on which I stand that shudders? Am I standing on ground? The chanting is louder, growing ever more so. Numerous other sounds contribute into the cacophony. It is now that I notice the fog. It is as if it were dark instead of light fog, and I almost think, if I were to open a door into a light room, that instead of the light piercing the darkness the darkness would smother the light. Something moves through the fog. I creep forward, hoping, almost begging that whatever it is will not sense me, whether by sight, smell, or whatever else the Creature might be able to use. I am against a wall. It is formed out of an almost translucent black stone, and it seems to glow with a black, rather than a white light, from something evil in its core. Looking up and to either side, I see that the wall is not only big, but massive, and that it is carven with some sort of serpentine hieroglyphics, grotesque and evil looking, but almost more sophisticated than the form of hieroglyphic that I am familiar with. I place my hand on the wall, but draw it back suddenly. The wall feels burning, although it is neither hot nor cold. The wall burns with evil. Suddenly, I hear a flapping of wings, and I know that the Creature, whatever it is, has sensed me. The hand of terror grips me, and it envelops me. My mind freezes. I am terrified. I begin to run. I know that I am in a dream, and I begin to try and break down my barriers of consciousness, but I can't. I will myself to wake up, I try to shove my mind into consciousness, but it is not awakening. The Creature is closer now; it is so evil that I can feel its evilness, even though I cannot fathom it. If I were not dreaming I would vomit. I can feel my mind begin to jolt, as it begins to awaken, the wall between my sleep and my awakening is crumbling brick by brick.  
  
Bakura felt someone violently shaking him. His teeth rattled in his head as the shaking became more and more violent. Opening his eyes, he peered into those of his Yami. His Yami had awoken him. Bakura, although he had always been afraid of his Yami, no longer carried that fear. Who could fear such a weak being after being made aware of such infinite evil? Bakura grabbed his knees and began to shiver. He would be happy, he thought, to be insane, because then he might be able to convince himself that it had all been the product of his sensitive mind and overactive imagination. But even then he knew that every particle of it had been reality. Even then he could detect the faint but pungent odor of the creature.  
  
Yami Bakura was shaken too. He had tried to telepathically communicate with Bakura, but had been unable to make a connection. Convinced that Bakura was blocking him, he started to fume, and decided to exit the ring and give his aibou a 'piece of his mind'. On exiting the ring and finding Bakura asleep, he became confused. If Bakura were asleep, he should at least be able to tap into his dreams or his subconscious, but he could do neither. Bakura also smelled really bad, and there was a black and green mist materializing around him. Realizing that something was abnormal in the situation, he began his attempts to wake his aibou up. Now his aibou's eyes were rolling back into his head with a kind of animal fear, and he was gibbering and muttering. He placed his hand on Bakura's forehead, but drew it back suddenly. Bakura was cold, not just his skin, but it was as if someone had frozen his aura. Yami Bakura linked to his mind, but could only feel a creeping coldness of mentality and grasp wild fragments of memories. Yami Bakura concentrated his magic, and used it to put Bakura to sleep. It would do him no good for Bakura to have a mental breakdown.  
  
TBC Please R&R!!! tell me whatcha think!!!? I promise it will get better. BTW, does Yami Bakura seem a bit dull-in-the-head to you???? Heeheehee! He's so cute, except for that one scene in the anime at the end of the duelist kingdom arc where his eyes get really weird. If you see it, you'll know what I mean. In that scene he just looks plain freaky. 


	2. Something evil this way comes

Wow! Thank you, everyone who reviewed, I'm so sorry that I didn't update sooner. but you know, schoolwork = hellish toiling. bleah. Happily, I just found my lost chapter skeletons, so I'm going to prepare several chapters ahead! That way I can update sooner if people like the next chapter! (Am I good or what?.) So now I put on some angsty music and start writing. This is going to be a bit slow for the first few chapters, please bear with it - I will make it worth the wait. and the reviews!!! ~____^  
  
Ummm, also, my other story's fourth chapter is in development, and I believe it will be pretty long. I don't know if that matters to you though.  
  
BTW  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~ is a scene change  
  
------------------- the end or beginning of a chapter  
  
//____// is a yami talking to his hikari  
  
/____/ a hikari talking to his yami  
  
"____" is a person talking to a person  
  
'____' is a person thinking  
  
Now, at a glance, here are the pairings. They're sort of complicated:  
  
Seto/Anzu  
  
Yami Bakura/Anzu  
  
Bakura/Shizuka  
  
Yami Yugi/Shizuka  
  
Jounouchi/Mai  
  
Oh, and if you don't know the Japanese names:  
  
Seto = (duh,) Seto  
  
Anzu = Te'a  
  
Bakura = (duh again) Bakura  
  
Shizuka = Serenity  
  
Yami Yugi = Yugi's homicidal little friend who lives in the millennium puzzle and happens to like using dark magic on people  
  
Mai = Mai  
  
Jounouchi = Joey  
  
Honda = Tristan  
  
  
  
In the previous chapter, Bakura had a nightmare of the most frightening kind, and is now verging on a nervous breakdown. Yami Bakura is worried about his hikari, and is worried about the evil that he senses through Bakura. Now on to chapter 2:  
  
--------------------------  
  
Chapter two: Something Evil this way comes.  
  
"By the pricking of my thumbs, something evil this way comes."  
  
Shakespeare's Macbeth  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Yami Bakura lifted his head from his arms at the frail beeping of Bakura's alarm clock. He had kept vigil at Bakura's side for the entire night, prepared to reawaken him if necessary. But it wasn't. Although Bakura appeared to be sleeping, his Yami sensed that he was shattering mentally, and could not - or would not sleep. Yami Bakura had been able to put his aibou's physical body in to a slumber of sorts, but until Bakura gathered his fragmentary psyche, it would be impossible for him to truly sleep.  
  
In the course of the night; Yami Bakura had opened a window - both in an attempt to rid the room of its revolting smell, and to dispel the oppressive black fog.  
  
The room was still dim, as the morning light had not yet fully entered, and the shadow caused by the pale glow from the open window cast a shroud-like pallor over the face of Bakura, who lay stiffly on his bed. The quivering light swelled and receded, as if a massive heart beat life into it, pulsing a cold radiance throughout Bakura's bedroom. The curtains coiled and twisted against each other, causing the light to twist and writhe; giving the illusion that Bakura was contorting his face into an agonized grimace.  
  
Yami Bakura shuffled across the room, and shook his aibou cautiously, wincing at the coldness that permeated his hand when it came into contact with Bakura's flesh.  
  
Bakura shifted slightly, and his Yami sensed his mental disintegration quicken. Fragments of thoughts or feelings, from the very beginning of Bakura's life now began to wash over Yami Bakura- an overwhelming dread began to enfold him, smothering his reason and darkening his mind. Panic soon followed; fear, terror, mental agony; these seemed prominent above all else in Bakura's memories and emotions. But one thing subsumed all other emotions, all other memories; an awareness of Evil, knowledge of the presence of Evil, of something powerful yet depraved. Chaotic yet hideously vivid images floated into his mind, nightmarish forms, grotesque landscapes; all these thoughts, images, and emotions writhed tortuously amongst themselves; merging into one another, pulsating sinuously; Yami Bakura felt as if a pit of venomous serpents had been released into his mind.  
  
Bakura's eyes slid partially open; their pupils contracted. They were encompassed with brown; soft in the center, but morphing into a murky green as it spread outwards; merging with the shadowy grey circles underneath his eyes.  
  
Bakura seemed to glance around the room with his sightless eyes, before his eyeballs rolled exhaustedly backwards in their sockets.  
  
Yami Bakura stood silently for a moment, listening to the irregular breathing of his hikari, then reached out a hand and drew his eyelids shut.  
  
He then exited the room, switching on the light as he left.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Yugi slouched at his desk, chewing nervously on a pencil. Recently, his Yami had been having premonitions, sensing something evil and powerful approaching. Because of this, he had grown overprotective of Yugi. Normally, Yugi would find this exceedingly annoying, but over the past few weeks he had dreamt several nightmares- or almost nightmares, at least. His Yami always awakened him before he completely shifted into the dream.  
  
In a way, he was acutely curious about the dream, wanting to experience the nightmare, but at the same time he was intensely afraid of what awaited him there. Even his Yami feared what lived in the dream, not just because it was strong, but because it was evil. Although his Yami was dark, there was, he insisted, a difference between darkness and evil. Light can create shadow, but good cannot create evil, because while darkness is merely a lack of light, both good and evil take a great deal of effort. Or so his Yami said.  
  
"Yo, Yugi," said Jounouchi, taking a seat next to his friend, "you don' look so good. Whatsa matter?"  
  
"Nothing," replied Yugi.  
  
"Aw, come on, I've noticed that you never look down unless sometin's wrong."  
  
"Yeah, very perceptive of you, Jouno," Tristan smirked as he took a seat near his friends, "I couldn't expect better."  
  
"Why you."  
  
"Heheheh."  
  
"Guys, stop it," Anzu hissed sitting next to Yugi, "do you want to be sent to the principal?"  
  
"Nah." they responded simultaneously.  
  
Anzu rolled her eyes and glanced over the room... something didn't seem right. But maybe it was just her. She looked over the room again, when the cause of her uneasiness struck her.  
  
"Hey, Yugi," she whispered to her friend, "Where's Bakura?"  
  
"I dunno." he replied thoughtfully.  
  
Class started, and the students began shifting their attention towards the teacher.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
-----------------------------  
  
Wow! I actually finished that! *pats self on back* I looovvveee Yami Bakura- but not as much as my Seto!  
  
To everybody who reviewed, thank you! to those who haven't, please do!!! I will be eternally grateful, and also will be inspired to write more, post more frequently, and maybe start some new fics! Yup yup.  
  
Thank you!  
  
The next chapter will be up and a couple of Anzu/Seto hints may or may not be thrown! ~___^  
  
If you review, chapter three will be posted sooner. I think I'm getting a bit redundant.  
  
Keep a watch out for:  
  
Chapter three: That silence where the birds are dead.  
  
Reviewer responses: Thank you everyone who reviewed!  
  
Heather the Great One: You're my first reviewer!!! AND you got my story title! Yay!  
  
Anonymous: Ooooooh! A mystery reviewer?? Thank you so much for reviewing!  
  
Millennia: You like my story??? ^____^ I like you!!! thanks!  
  
To those who have read this but not reviewed yet. please R&R??? Its worth it! Sort of like going down the street and smiling at someone. It makes them keep going when their life begins to go to hell. So do a good deed! Teehee.  
  
All you hafta do is press that little purple button right down (t (h (e (r (e (! \/ 


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